mehitabel

This link will tell you: https://ask.cunard.com/help/mini/cunard/life-on-board/dress_code_all

Brilliant! And inspiring. I'm attempting something like this in the summer, so this is a great help.

Your bag reminds me of my tried and true Patagonia bag with a similar size/style. If you pack smart, you can fit a lot in a bag like that. (Problem is that it is then very heavy if you have to carry it/wear it for very long!)

 

Be sure your sandals have good support for walking in Europe -- lots of cobblestones, and if you are going to any ruins you might also face some rough terrain.

Oh yes. My tried-and-true Born sandals are on the list! They've never let me down.

I did a trial run with that bag over the New Year's holiday, and was so pleased. Because there's no hard frame in it, it seems infinitely expandable; there was always space to tuck in one more thing. Granted, that was only for a week, but I wasn't packing nearly as conscientiously as I plan to pack this summer.

Having a big purse helps too. :)

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and suggestions! As it turns out, I just found an antique fox wrap this weekend! It's very retro and goes beautifully with the dress. I can't wait!

Thanks again.

I'm taking a transatlantic crossing this August, then spending 2 more weeks in Europe. I'm going to do my best to keep everything in ONE carryon: this one.

I bought 5 reversible silk sari wraparound skirts like these. I had two already, so now I have seven--that's two weeks' worth of skirts right there, and I'll be packing a handful of solid-color blouses and a few cardigans in there too.

The skirts, being so light, squash down and take up very little space. Also, the fact that they're wraparound/adjustable will make the post-cruise bloating a little more bearable!

I plan to bring three pairs of shoes: silver sandals, black sandals, and dress shoes. Probably a pair of flip-flops too.

I have a few more items of clothing I'd like to bring, but I made the rule for myself that NO separate can come along unless it goes with several other items in the suitcase. The evening dresses will be a challenge, but where there's a way...

Wonderful, wonderful! I keep thinking I can't get any more anticipatory about August--and then one of you posts something like this. Thank you so much.

Here's a picture of me with my dress for my transatlantic in August, and I need your help! I hate my tattoos and I think they conflict with the lines of this dress. What are your recommendations?

This is how it looks with a wrap (though I wouldn't choose this one):

I would say a tiara with 175 diamonds would be appropriate on a Queen!

If I wear the tiara, can I wear jeans to dinner? :D

I've been on this board forever and I know I've posted pictures, but it's been a long time. Here I am on my land-based vacation in October:

And here's my sister and me on our New Year cruise (I'm on the left):

This Highway bag is the best recommendation I can give! I've had mine for almost 7 years now, and it's so capacious it could almost be a carry-on (but it's not nearly so large!).

Lots of zippered pockets, as you can see, comfortable when worn cross-body, which is how I almost always wear mine, and tons of room. On my last vacation, I had in mine: my wallet, my passport (it fits perfectly in the bottom zippered pocket), my makeup, medications, travel paperwork, pens/pencils/notepad, iPad, iPhone, and all the other assorted things that I just have to have right near me.

Because of the way it's designed, it seems to distribute weight very evenly across itself and across the body. And it is STURDY. When it's empty, it just rolls up. I love mine and it's a mainstay of my traveling.

I was told when I booked with my deposit that remaining payments had to be called in.

I don't know about the spa bookings.

I see what you're saying--this may not be advantageous for everyone. But for some of us...

Oh dear--so sorry! I'm ignorant of the difference between US/UK bookings, I'm afraid.

...call back if you haven't gotten the 175th anniversary special! I have the August 4th Transatlantic booked, saw the promos that weren't up when I originally booked, and gave them a call this morning.

I was able to cancel and rebook with $100 onboard credit and upgrade from an interior stateroom to an oceanview, which then automatically upgraded me for free to an obstructed balcony room. This, in total, ends up costing me not too much more than I originally paid. I'd have still gotten the onboard credit and other perks if I'd chosen to stay with my original stateroom.

Cunard representative was, as always, extraordinarily helpful with making the switch and my deposit was able to be moved without having to cancel a payment and make a new one. I highly recommend looking into your booking to see if you can get a similar package.

I'm guessing the free champagne was due to its being a New Year's cruise, but it was my first time on Carnival, so I could be wrong. All the extra holiday charges have to go for something, right? :D

The first night, the melting cake was a little unbalanced with flavors. I added a dash of table salt and that made it perfect!

On one of the other nights, another guest at our table ordered the melting cake with butter pecan instead of vanilla ice cream--WOW. So good.

Goodness only knows what amazingly delicious sludge you can concoct from the afternoon buffet (nacho chips, melted cheese, chicken tenders, fries, etc.). My sister and I had a pretty good go at it. :D

Thought of a couple more things:

We stayed in the Courtyard Marriott Doral in Miami the night before. Nothing special, but the price was good and we could park for free. There was a charge for the shuttle, but it wasn't exorbitant. And if you like ceviche, there was a wonderful, wonderful restaurant literally down the road: Divino Ceviche. Great food and REALLY good Pisco sours!

And, if any Carnival execs are checking in: please, please don't make your waitstaff dance almost every night! Those people are working their butts off; do they really have to do the Gangnam Style moves too? (Also, it almost always happened right when dessert was about to be served. I NEED MY SUGAR NOW!) Really, though, the waitstaff must be some of the hardest-working people I've ever seen. Let them do their excellent work without having to bust out dance moves on top of everything else.

We didn't do the buffet too much, but what we had was really good. I'm a big salad person--the salad bar AND the prepared salads were delicious. The desserts looked a little "meh" so I didn't bother.

The potato salad. GET THE POTATO SALAD. It's so, so good.

I wish I'd tried the deli, but there was so much other food around that I never got the chance! The pizza really was fabulous, though.

My sister and I ditched the traffic on New Year's Eve and went cruising instead! It was a GREAT decision.

Our cruise itinerary:

12/27--left Miami

12/28--Sea Day

12/29--Ocho Rios

12/30--Grand Cayman

12/31--Sea Day

1/1--back to Miami

I'd never been on Carnival before; I'm a big fan of Royal Caribbean and was pushing for that line, but my sister really enjoys Carnival and, to be honest, the price was much better. I wasn't sure what to expect; you know how it is when you love one line and hear what people say about the other cruise lines! I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised, overall, at the quality of Carnival's vacation.

Embarking was not bad. We got to POM at about noon--right when everyone else did! :D Security took the longest out of anything we had to do/wait for that day; then we checked in at the terminal and were told to wait until they called for general boarding--which happened less than 5 minutes after we sat down. We took our goofy boarding picture and were on board in about 10 minutes. Our stateroom wasn't technically ready, but we put our stuff in there anyway and went to explore.

The Victory is an easy ship to get around. It IS pretty garishly decorated, but you know what? THEY ALL ARE, more or less, on the mainstream lines. Lots of color, lots of neon, lots of twinkly lights. I know it's going into dry dock in March, and while it could certainly use a sprucing up, I didn't see anything egregiously out of order, dirty, or in disrepair. My sister wanted to check out the Serenity area first off, and it really was nice--lots of comfy chairs, lounges, and clamshell loungers, several hot tubs (already full of people!) and a bar. And most importantly, the wandering kids were chased out as soon as they set foot up there.

Our stateroom was interior, 7418 if anyone's interested. There was surprisingly ample room for both of us and the beds were comfortable. Is the shower small? Of course it is. But the water pressure was great and we never had a problem with water temperature--but it gets VERY hot and stays that way, so be careful! The hair dryer really is the worst one I've ever used. Really. I used it to thoroughly style my hair one night, then thought The heck with this, I'm on a cruise, and didn't bother with it again. If your hairstyle is that important to you, bring your own dryer. The tile was a little shabby, but I don't cruise for immaculate bathroom tile.

We were given (many) glasses of free champagne before and during sailaway. We watched a few ships on their way out of the channel, then followed behind. On our first night in the Pacific Dining Room, we met our waiters Norman and Rodolfo (who asked us our names and then remembered them without fail every single night thereafter) and our tablemates. We got so lucky--we were at a table for 10, and the other 8 people were kind, friendly, and talkative.

The food, throughout our time there, was so good! I think that's what surprised me the most. I liked the chocolate melting cake just fine, but the potato salad on the Lido Deck! I could have eaten just that and been happy.

That's a lie. Because the chateaubriand was amazing, the smoked duck breast delicious, the made-to-order pizza (get the prosciutto and arugula!), even the simple salads were beautifully done. The room service came a little lukewarm, but hey--room service. I'm not complaining.

The excursion in Jamaica was kind of a bummer. I'd done Dunn's River Falls a couple of times, but my sister hadn't. The last time I did the falls was 10 years ago; the time before that closer to 25 years ago. Things have changed. If I remember correctly, I wasn't herded into a huge group of people and made to hold hands (!) and chant ridiculous slogans (!!) while trying to not fall and take everyone with me (!!!). Eventually everyone got tired of the hand-holding and just slogged their way up. Super-crowded. We went from there to Bamboo Beach. Not a very pretty beach site. The food was pretty good, but our guide just seemed ticked off at everyone in the world, and most especially our group. We were all a little sad, looking at everyone else's group chowing down on jerk chicken and fruit while our lady was nowhere to be found. Our bus was the last to show up to bring us back to the ship, well past boarding time--if I hadn't booked through Carnival, I'd have been livid. But you know what? If that's how I have to spend a Monday, I'm pretty much okay with that.

Grand Cayman was, as always, lovely. We chose the all-inclusive day at Tiki Beach, and were glad we did (we'd both done the stingrays a few times before). Gorgeous water, plenty of space at the beach, delicious and ample buffet (jerk chicken, burgers, hot dogs, etc.), and free beer and rum punch. What's not to like? We rented some snorkel gear and I pretended to be an extra in "Finding Nemo." I also did a little duty-free shopping. Did I get an amazing bargain? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, I got some things I really like and I had fun doing it!

The cruise staff was generally great. The cruise director Marcelo was fairly entertaining, but by the end of the cruise he seemed a little over it. The karaoke host was SO funny and gave everyone a hard time who came up to sing. Including me. We spent 4 out of the 5 nights in the Arctic Nightclub--I love to dance, and it was great to see a hoppin' dance floor every time we went in at night. DJ Jazze is the bomb!

I'm not a huge show person, so I can't speak to the theater productions. We did see Percy Crews on the last night, and he was really funny.

New Year's Eve was very well done. I was concerned about people clogging up one area of the ship, but they had several things going on shortly before midnight--a lobby party, an on-deck party (which really covers several levels of the ship), and plenty of people just wanted to be inside at bars or in the casino. We all got hats and noisemakers and more free champagne, did the countdown, cheered and danced--and didn't have to worry about who was designated driver. It seemed as though a lot of the staff and crew had family aboard for this cruise, which my sister and I thought was very sweet.

What else can I tell you? We did end up getting some photos--but avoiding the CONSTANT photo shilling is something of a chore, particularly at night during dinner hours. You sort of have to run the gauntlet of photographers down the hallway and just keep saying "No, thank you!" if you don't want pictures taken. Sort of like the markets in Jamaica, actually. And I'd rather not be harassed for photo opportunities when I'm trying to eat my dinner in the actual dining room. We liked the pictures we did end up with, though.

The only other things I found annoying were the very frequent announcements on the PA. Look, guys, it's in the daily program. I can read. STOP TELLING ME THINGS ALL THE TIME. No wonder Marcelo was worn out by the end--that poor guy was talking all. The. Time.

I'll be back on Carnival, I'm sure. Feel free to ask any questions, and if I have the answer, I'll pass it on!

You'd think that, but tonight as my husband was packing (not with a list), he laughed when he was done and said "There! No list, and I'll bet I didn't forget a thing!" So I pulled out my list and asked about the male packing equivalents. "Oh, I forgot that. Oh, those. Whoops, I need to put that in ..." and so on.

I think that for me, it's a realization of my own fairly serious scatterbrained-ness and a concerted effort to overcome it. I also don't think I could've packed just a carry-on and backpack without that list. And planning really is part of the fun for me.

The packing list I posted is my actual packing list, done in Excel "freehand", meaning I just played around with it until it was understandable to me. I'm not sure what you're asking for, but I'll try to help if I can!

Jesus' dress was indeed a trainwreck. I'm not sure how he could have added more chintzy schlock to it unless he'd managed to make it light up somehow.

I liked the winner's dress very much. It moved so beautifully, and her model looked so regal. I thought Amy got totally robbed on the burlap challenge, so it was nice to see her take this one.

Tonight's episode was a relief! And Maya's dress design was absolutely stunning.

Some of my friends were complaining about the aufing this week--they thought that Jesus or Ping should have gone. I wasn't surprised or dismayed at the judges' decision at all, frankly. Ping's dress was a nightmare, true, but it was interesting, and so is she. They want to see what else she's going to do, and they liked her design so much last week that I think she's got one or two more chances before they write her off. Jesus' design was off, as was his interpretation of the challenge, but it wasn't horrendous. Pamela's design, as so eloquently reported by the gentlemen at Project Rungay, looked like "a truckstop hooker". And I think that's accurate. The denim-y look of the fabric, the cheap-looking leather lace-ups in front and back ... it was both tired and tacky. And Pamela herself is a little dull.

I don't Jesus or Ping have very long on the show, but I agree that this wasn't their week to go.

Bringing this thread back to give a big THANK YOU to KandCSailing! I used her idea and I love my packing list! See?

It's really helped me narrow down what I need and don't need--it's a great tool. Thanks again!